New Direction Confirmed for Rotorua District Council

Rotorua District Council chief
executive Geoff Williams is confident the organisation has
been sharpened to support the community’s aspirational
vision for the Rotorua district for 2030.

Elected
officials and the community worked together last year to
create Rotorua 2030 in which a direction was set for
Rotorua’s future. This included a commitment to reshape
RDC to be a more effective and responsive
organisation.Today, Mr Williams revealed to staff the
completed realigned Council core organisation which will
take effect from 1 July 2014.

“We believe we have come
up with the required model to deliver on the community’s
long term vision and the more immediate 2016 priorities,”
he said.

“The goal was to create a more efficient,
effective and responsive organisation that would enable and
navigate in partnership with our various communities and
stakeholders.“This has been a huge body of work by
staff and I congratulate them for the professional way they
have contributed to the process,” Mr Williams said.

“The realignment has been carried out in support of the
sustainable financial framework the organisation is now
working to.”

Mayor Steve Chadwick endorses the
reorganisation which was called for as part of a public
groundswell for change communicated to many elected
officials during last year’s election
campaign.

“People told us they wanted council working
differently and said the organisation was inefficient. The
executive has now been able to respond to this.”

Mayor
Chadwick said the changes would enable a better organisation
and also contribute some $3.5 million towards annual savings
– but acknowledged there would also be an impact for the
district.

“Some people who are working for the district
now will not have a job at RDC once the dust settles and
that is unfortunate for us all as that pain will be shared
across our community,” Mrs Chadwick said.

“However, I
commend Geoff and the staff for taking on the challenge and
producing the organisational model required to deliver on
our community’s future needs and
aspirations.”

Effective 1 July 2014 RDC core services
staff numbers will reduce from 388 FTE to 322, a reduction
of 66 FTE. Also 192 FTE staff will be transferred to new
CCOs and RDC carried historical vacancies into the
realignment process.The projected $3.5million of savings
equates to reducing the current personnel cost by
10%.

Some 217 staff have been confirmed or redeployed into
roles in the core organisation while 119 have been displaced
and will be able to apply for 100 contestable positions.
These will be advertised internally and or externally
depending on the skills, experience and expertise available
within the organisation.

There is no confirmed number of
physical staff reductions at this stage as this will vary
due to the recruitment process. However, affected staff
will continue to have RDC’s Employment Assistance
Programme (EAP) support available to them during this
process. The required recruitment process will start
across June with the internal positions filled that month
and externals through
July/August.

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